Compare and Contrast
by Rose-chan-chan
Summary: Amu and Utau were so different and yet so alike. And he was the man that brought the two together. Ikuto X Amu. Amuto. No character bashing.


This is a fanfic created solely for the purpose of checking to see if I still have the ability to write and if anyone still remembers who I am. Sorry I haven't been able to keep up with my stories, I wrote everything down but my computer has a virus on it (I think).

Still, I'm typing this story up at the library, at school, at my friends house, whever I find a working computer and the time to work on it. It took a while just to finish this one-shot so I can't promise my other stories will be updated anytime soon. However, I am halfway finished with the next chappie of A Shining Promise, so that'll actually be up next week.

Oh and I don't own anyone or anything related to this story except the plot and the plushie I bought a while ago. I get to sleep with Ikuto :p Love you all, please review!

* * *

If you told either one, they would both massacre you. If they thought about it themselves, they 'd commit suicide. Neither would admit it, but Amu and Utau were more alike than any other pair in the world.

Amu and Utau would constantly fall into their "cool character, brushing almost everyone off. Amu would constantly walk through the school four hours on end, by herself of course. No one was brave enough to talk the gorgeous but "cool and spicy" girl. She waited at the rooftop, although the Guardians had often remarked that Amu did not exactly resemble a rooftop kind of person, she climbed all 276 steps daily at exactly the same time every day, to reach her heaven on earth.

As Amu opened the door to reveal that no one was there, a gentle breeze moved from the front of the rooftop to the more secluded back area. Amu, thinking no one was there, character transformed, letting Miki get a little closer to the clouds she loved to draw. And more importantly, reminding Yoru that she was still waiting for his reply.

Utau sat in the park, as though she were holding a silent vigil. She wore an entirely black outfit, her signature black top and skirt, black nails; she'd even ditched the silver belt for this. Her feet dangled in the fountain, occasionally kicking up some water, occasionally causing gentle ripples in the smooth surface of the water. The moon shone brightly, the night was young, and yet there was no one within a five mile radius. Even when she showed up at work for the first time that week, and probably the only time that week, no one was stupid enough to scold the superficial blonde.

Not even her manager, because despite her original hair color, the blonde-dyed-red head did indeed want to live. (Joke! No offense to blondies…the blondies at my school are pretty and smart so yeah…no offense!)

Amu and Utau also shared their mutual love slash hate feelings; giggling, smiling, shopping, one moments and fighting Iru on Eru the next. Occasionally, Eru could be seen whining to Amu while Utau dealt with Iru. Even more strangely was when Miki beat Iru to a pulp for suggesting that Yoru might like a bad girl side more than the shy little "artistic" Miki. Iru had sealed her deal with a raspberry and found that when she opened her eyes again, Miki wasn't quite the shy, good little girl Iru had once believed she was.

Then again, if Miki hadn't pounded Iru, Ran certainly would have as she was the one who insisted Miki had to be taught martial arts if she wanted to roam with an alley cat. Iru followed Utau around, whining like Eru usually did, for about a week until she felt brave enough to ask for a re-match, and even then she made sure Utau was somewhere close-by.

* * *

Utau had always preferred the black look. Before joining Easter, it had made her hair look wonderful and her supermodel body look even more gorgeous. Afterwards, it was her way of reminding herself of the bonds she had to break, of reminding herself of what the Embryo could do for her, or reminding herself of how she could free the one man she had eyes for.

Now, Utau looked at Amu, disgusted by Ikuto's apparently lacking taste in women, or at least Amu's lack of fashion. In Utau's eyes, her signature black look had been spoiled entirely by the girl who stole her very own brother away. Utau had always preferred the simple, classic black look, and seeing Amu mix it with red just pissed her off. Of course Amu didn't know a thing about what that dark color meant to her.

Amu despised how Utau took everything for granted. Sure, Amu had seen the way Utau overworked herself, but Utau only worked for herself. No matter how many lies she told, in the end, Utau only sang for herself, because that was her honto no jibun. And even that Utau took for granted, leaving Eru alone like that, even skipping whole weeks of work at a time. With Utau, she worked for herself and others worked for her.

Amu and Utau were like night and day one moment, and dawn and dusk the next. (I'm pretty sure those two are the same thing.) However, there was one similarity that both could agree on. Perhaps this connection was what brought love into their love slash hate relationship.

* * *

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Amu sat on the rooftop; her feet dipped in the pool. Ribbons from her pink outfit dangled from her skirt, top, and hair. A single pink ribbon fell loose and danced across the water, creating ripples beautiful enough to spark Miki's urge to paint.

"Come on, Utau-chan!" Amu smiled rather genuinely, considering the catfight the two had mere moments ago. This meant that they would have to buy Ikuto yet another shirt, as neither girl would relinquish any piece of his property. This usually resulted in a broken article of clothing in which the two would continue fighting over.

Utau flicked her hair, sending the stray stands flying in a graceful way. "If you catch a cold, do not come crying to me." She flicked her hair yet again, but joined Amu anyways.

It was dark out, but no one was extremely bothered by it. Even Suu was fine, since Ran had brought her new glow in the dark pom-poms. The wind blew every now and then, a gentle warm breeze that made Amu and Utau smile as they remembered the first time they met up here, dipping their feet in the water, huddling together because someone decided it should negative 500 degrees that night. Their feet were underwater because Utau swore it was warmer in the water. And the fact that the pool was heated kinda helped.

An unnaturally strong breeze passed by, causing Ran and Suu to share a knowing smile. Miki, Amu, and Utau shared a hopeful smile.

* * *

Rich velvet waves wrapped around Amu, while cold ripple flowed playfully around her feet. Amu giggled as Utau continued to kick water into the air and then returned the motion by scooping up some water and flicking it towards Utau.

Considering how bad Amu usually was at sports, her accuracy was quite good right now and she managed to get Utau rather wet. Amu giggled while Utau acted outraged, then when the velvet waves proved to be a certain piece of cloth that belonged to a certain shmexy kitty cat.

"That's not fair Ikuto!" The silhouette smirked.

"Ikuto!" Amu and Utau chanted in unison. Amu's voice had a happy, surprised tone, while Utau seemed rather pissed. Hmmm…I wonder why.

"You climbed up to her balcony 22 times just this week! I mean I can't blame you since I was out of town earlier, those stupid photo shoots... I swear I'm going to get hypothermia one day. But then you finally see me and you hug her?!" Utau was that close to character changing. And Amu wasn't helping, as she was currently snuggling closer to Ikuto.

Utau stood up, getting ready to leave. Just as she was about to close the rooftop door, she looked back. Ikuto seemed to be rather familiar with the puppy-dog eyes he was getting from Utau. Moments later, he heard a whisper; well it was more of a hiss. Then the door slammed shut and Utau stormed down the stairs. Her stomps batched the unmistakable beat of her Meikyuu Butterfly.

Ikuto looked down, his smirk changing to a look of curiosity when he saw Amu's smile. He raised his eyebrows, an unspoken question to Amu's unspoken statement.

Amu smiled at Ikuto. "She said, you win. But you owe me…details woman, details!" Amu let out a long laugh. "Then again Rima would pump me for details too so its not really much of a surprise. Guess they're all the same…"

* * *

A serene smile spread across Ikuto's face. "I don't know what I should be happiest about. The fact that you're mine , the fact that Utau won't kill you, or the fact that this means Utau will leave me alone."

Amu smiled and giggles once again. She seemed to be doing a lot of that recently. "Who ever said she would leave you alone?" Ikuto looked puzzled. "Utau and I made a pact last week, when we went shopping for a shirt to replace the one we ripped. Anyways, it means that even if I win, Utau still has to help me get blackmail." Amu smiled sweetly and batted her eyelashes.

Ikuto blinked, surprised by this new side of both Amu and Utau. Eventually, Ikuto got what he originally came for, with or without Amu's permission. The moon went down and being the nocturnal freaks they are, or maybe because they were ummm, busy that night, everyone from Miki and Yoru to Amu and Ikuto and even Utau went to sleep around noon.

As they lay there waiting for the sand-man to arrive, or maybe just someone to close the blinds because they were too lazy to do it themselves, both girls thought of just how much they had changed. How different they thought they were, how alike they turned out to be, and most importantly the single factor that caused all this to happen.

"I'm going to kill Ikuto!" The two girls cried in unison. The soft, lilting melody paused as Ikuto climbed higher up the tree. I guess he forgot that Amu and Utau could fly.

Then, looking at Amu's open window, he whispered, "I love you too, Amu-koi."

Please review, I'd love to know that I still have some ability to write and I officially have finished the chappie. Now I need to beta read and post, so A Shining Promise fans, watch out!


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